One More Time
by ever
Summary: Set many years in the future when Angel is human. Buffy and Angel are together, but they still have to deal with the pieces of their past.
1. Default Chapter

One More Time  
Disclaimer: They're not mine.  
Part I  
Angel's car glided down the road as he went over his speech that he had to tell Buffy. It was a life changing descision and he needed to discuss it with her. In the back of his mind he knew what the answer would be, what it had to be. That didn't make him any less nervous.  
He was reminded of a time not so long ago when he had been racing in the car towards Buffy to tell her very different news, that he was human. The day had started out ordinarily until Angel had felt a heartbeat. It wasn't a shocking experience that riveted him. It was like something missing had just returned. He had known right then that if he didn't go to Buffy and spend his first day human with her it would have been a step in the wrong direction. So he had told Cordy, Wes and Gunn that he would be back and he had jumped into his car. She had been in the magic shop when he had walked in. As soon as the door had opened she looked, expectantly, like she felt what was coming. He had stood there for a minute letting it sink in and letting her see the sunlight stream over him. He knew she wouldn't be able to see his face because of the light and rejoiced in that fact. She wouldn't see him cry and it wouldn't affect her descision.  
He had asked. There was no impulsive kiss, like last time. Just, Buffy do you want to try again? She had asked why it was so sudden and he hadn't called and he had told her that he wanted his first day human to be spent with her. When she asked why, he told her. She was the most precious thing in the world to him. He could still remember her unsure and slightly akward movements as she drew close to him for the first time in years. Then, she was in his arms, with the old feeling surging up through his throat. He held her close so that she could hear the new heartbeat.  
Angel sighed and brought his mind back to the present. He had moved to Sunnydale to be closer to her, but then a year ago they had both moved back to LA. Together, with Cordy, Gunn, and Wesley, they ran Angel Investigations. Angel had found that he hadn't lost his strength or his warrior status and Buffy still had a built in vampire radar. They were always busy. They had abandoned the old offices and moved back to the hotel. Cordelia had conceded that it made more sense to have a bigger place and that it was handy if a client needed to stay the night.   
Early that morning he had recieved a call from England and that was what he wanted to talk to Buffy about. 


	2. Chapter 2

Part II  
Buffy hummed slightly to herself as she went about the hotel arranging things just so. Angel had a call, but he had insisted that she stay home. Buffy patted her stomach, all eight months of pregnancy showing, and thanked him for it.  
Earlier that day she had felt a slight sense of foreboding and worry. A quick check of all bases had reassured her fears. She had caught Giles at a lull in business at the Magic Box and had a long conversation with him. When the baby was born he was planning on coming up. Buffy had reassured him that they had plenty of room.   
Then she had dialed the number of Xander and Anya's carpenter businness. She could hear the sound of sawing and laughing in the backroom from their three kids as she explained to Anya that she was just calling to see how they were doing. We're fine, Anya had told her, slightly puzzled. Buffy had smiled on the other end of the phone and decided not to interupt Xander.  
Then a call to Willow's flat had produced a long and soulful conversation, especially about the new member of the family. Then, she caught Dawn in between classes at art school. Dawn had also assured her that she was coming up when it got closer to the "time." Buffy had hung up the phone satisfied and content and after a quick call to Angel and the rest of the gang, felt the bad feeling dissolve away.  
Now she was happy and comfortable. She could feel the life inside of her and it was like nothing before. They had already picked out names for the baby. Liam Rupert if he was a boy and Jennifer Joy if it was a girl. Joy had come from Joyce, Buffy's mother. But something in the back of Buffy's mind made it seem sacriligious to place her mother's full name on the girl and beside joy fitted the baby perfectly.  
Now she had only to wait for Angel. Angel. Her heart skipped a beat whenever she thought of him or said his name. This life was more than she had ever dreamed of and she prayed that if it was a dream she would never wake up. 


	3. Chapter 3

Part III  
She looked up as he walked through the door into the small room that they used as an eating area. As always there was the impulse to run to him, and then the familiar impulse to check it, but they were alone and Buffy was free to do whatever she wanted. She was in Angel's arms in a minute. But something wasn't right.  
"What's wrong?" she asked him.  
"Nothing," he said.  
"Only you don't have a nothing face. You have a something face," Buffy said.  
"I need to talk to you," Angel said, carefully taking her by the arms and sitting her down.  
"I got a call from the Watcher's council this morning."  
"What could they possibly want?" Buffy said, a feeling of hysteria rising up in her throat. Keep those hormones in check, she warned herself, you don't have to be scared of the council anymore.  
"They want me to be a watcher."  
"What?!" Buffy said.  
"A new slayer needs to be trained and Giles doesn't feel up to it," Angel said, quickly.  
"You can't be a watcher Angel! Do you realize who those people are?!" Buffy said, a million memories flooding back on her.  
"I'm not going to be like them," Angel said. "I want to help and show the slayer that she's not just an instrument..."  
"Wait," Buffy said, her throat beginning to constrict," I'm the slayer and nothings happened to me so it must be... Faith." Buffy's mind screamed for oxygen as Angel started to speak.  
"There was a prison riot," he said. "And she just didn't have the will anymore. There was nothing any of us could have done." Tears started streaming down Buffy's cheek. Her head was in her hands and she felt Angel come near to comfort her, but she didn't want him right now.  
"The phone," she said, suddenly realizing that it had been ringing for awhile. Angel reluctantly left to answer it, when he came back Buffy was gone. He went to their bedroom and found her curled up, as far as she was able to, on the bed. He came and cradled her.  
"When you were a slayer, the first couple of years, didn't it bother you that Giles didn't realize you were a person as well as a slayer and that you weren't just a flash on the horizon, it wasn't fair for you to die young?"  
"It did," Buffy said, her voice muffled.  
"And you dealt with it, but you wouldn't wish it on another slayer right?"  
"I had help," Buffy said, turning over. "I had you," she said, reaching her hand out to his face.  
"Buffy, I need to do this--"  
"No," Buffy said. " We do a lot of things because we need to, but you want to do this and I want you to too." Angel surrounded her in his arms.  
"Want to go eat with everyone?" he said, after a while.  
"Let's stay here for a while longer," Buffy said. Angel heard a small sob come from her as the tears started again.  
"What's wrong?" he asked, tenderly.  
"Faith..." Buffy said, burying her head in his chest and crying. 


End file.
